As our #Booky100Keepers list nearly draws to a close, I had to cast eyes back over the entire list to make sure I hadn't already featured this one. Any children's book list of recommendations will have certain books that folk will firmly get behind, and "We're going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury seems to have escaped the usual "We love it / we hate it now / we love it again / no we definitely hate it now and it's not cool any more" thing that book folk go through from time to time with beloved children's titles.

But let's face it, this book bounces along, it has an entertaining story, it has an imaginative twist or two in it, and it's just so filled with alliterative read-aloud fun that it's nigh-on impossible to resist.

We bought this way back in 2012 when C was still knee high to a grasshopper and it swiftly ended up being a bedtime favourite. Back then we probably used to read at least 3-4 picture books a night to her, and this was always somewhere in the mix.

A family jaunt out into the great outdoors is filled with swishy grass to wrestle your way through, squishy mud to wade through, trip-tastic forests to navigate and then at the end, a cave...but what's inside? Or more likely who...

Michael Rosen is usually quite quick to point out that this isn't his work entirely, and the rhyme existed long before the book did. He's also very quick to point out that a large part of the success of this book is down to Helen Oxenbury's utterly perfect illustrations, filled with energy and youthful vibrance and it's these that are always the biggest draw for me, marvelling at how her sparse lines and glorious watercolours depict a living breathing landscape for her awesome family of characters to inhabit.

This was one of the books that we used to read whenever we did read-aloud events (sadly that never turned into a regular gig, which is a shame as they were always so much fun to do but lacking any silly props or daft hats I guess no one wanted to book a baldy 50-something to read aloud to their kids). What always struck me is that kids who had never heard of the book before (and yes, there were a surprising number) always got quite scared at the bit at the end. The book goes silent, wordless as the chase between the bear and the family kicks off - with the bear chasing them right to the front door of their house. I found that quite interesting, that the dark twist elicited that response, but the 'damping down' at the end as the lonely bear trudged back off to his cave always brought those kids around and turned the bear from a menacing foe into something of a sympathetic character really.

Like / hate it (and I'll be brutally honest here, the animated TV version was pretty terrible and left us utterly cold due to the liberties it took with the original story) it is without doubt one of those revered and hallowed books that you really ought to have on your kids' bookshelves. A real classic.

Original review links and articles: 

Come to Discover for a brilliant Bear Hunt spectacular from October 2015

Don't miss out on the biggest "Bear Hunt" reading in history!

Three new fantastic books for lovers of nature and the great outdoors. Perfect for Spring and Summer - out now from Walker Books

ReadItDaddy Reads aloud - Mostly Books and Usborne's 40th Anniversary, the perfect time for storytelling fun!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books)

The summer holidays are here, as is the sunshine, and you can almost hear the exasperated exclamations of parents across the land as their kids grump around the house, listlessly scrolling on their tablets or mobiles. But hark, there is hope - and there's no better time to drag 'em outside, find a nice sunshiney nook to curl up in and enjoy a truly glorious set of books from Walker UK.

Starting with "Too Small Tola" by Atinuke and Onyinye Iwu, this is a trilogy of treats, three stories featuring the effervescent little Nigerian girl and her family.

Tola might be small but she's a mighty girl after our own hearts, loving life in Lagos alongside her brother Dapo, sister Moji and Grandmummy (the real boss of the household).

Tola's adventures span the three stories, whether it's visiting the vibrant market with her Grandmummy, or saving a local tailor when his goods aren't delivered. This determined little girl is always ready to pitch in and help, and these stories are filled with atmosphere and enjoyment for emergent readers just beginning to stretch their reading legs with longer books, still filled with plenty of gorgeous illustrations.

"Too Small Tola" by Atinuke and Onyinye Iwu is out now, published by Walker Books. 

Nest up is the glorious "Anna Hibiscus" again by Atinuke with illustrations this time from super-talented Lauren Tobia.

It's another slice of African life with awesome Anna, who never turns down the chance to have an adventure or two. This edition features four stories featuring this fearless mighty girl, enjoying a day at the beach with her family and her cousins, or partying with her aunties in her home town.

Anna has a secret wish though. She would love more than anything else to see something you don't often see in Africa. Glorious crisp snow! Will she ever get her wish?

Again this title is perfect, taking content from the hugely successful picture books featuring Anna Hibiscus, and wrapping them in a pocket sized edition that's just perfect for tucking in your bag and taking to the beach with you.

Illustrated throughout by Lauren, this is a fab compilation of Anna's best stories.

"Anna Hibiscus" by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia is out now, published by Walker Books. 

Younger readers can also join in the fun with a glorious pair of large format picture books.


"Catch that Chicken" by Atinuke and Angela Brooksbank is a fab little story featuring Lami, a little girl who absolutely loves all her feathery friends, and is the very best in her village at rounding up and catching the chickens when they escape from their pens.

Poor Lami has an accident one day and really hurts her ankle, making her chicken-catching duties very hard and very painful.

But Lami is smart and clever, and begins to think about other ways she can be the best at what she does.

Watch out chickens, you can't keep a mighty girl down!


We really loved the illustrations in this one, I mean just look inside at this page spread and how gorgeously detailed and atmospheric it is. It's almost like being there!



"Catch that Chicken" by Atinuke and Angela Brooksbank is out now, published by Walker Books.

One last book, and this one's probably our favourite, a superb slice of non fiction describing the sights, the sounds and what life is like in "Africa Amazing Africa by Atinuke and Mouni Feddag.

More than just an atlas, this is a country-by-country tour of all the amazing places, people and culture that you'll find in the African continent.

From the busy cities to the desert plains, from the coastal towns and villages right into the heart of the savannah, this is a truly amazing guide that will make you want to visit this amazing place.

With 55 countries covered in the book, you'll find a rich and diverse set of contentfor younger readers, dividing Africa up into five sections: South, East, West, Central and North, each with its own introduction.

This is followed by a page per country, containing a delightful mix of friendly, informative text and colourful illustrations. With just a a couple of facts per page, the book is perfectly geared toward seven year old readers, and imagined as a diving-off point: to inspire children to find out more about each and every country, and perhaps make Afrida the subject of classroom projects and topics of discussion.

It's a real treat and the large format with gorgeous colour illustrations makes it a real winner, and so eyecatching that you can't possibly pass it by.

"Africa Amazing Africa Country by Country" by Atinuke and Mouni Feddag is out now, published by Walker Books.

(All books kindly supplied for review).

We've often written #ReadItTorial pieces about the frustration of trying to write something that 'fits in with the rule book' of writing children's picture books. A great many of the books you'll find in our #Booky100Keepers list are books that have comfortably broken well away from that (hated) 32 page 12 spread 500 words or less 'pattern' that most emerging authors must stick to like glue. There's still a rotten assumption that kids are incapable of focusing their attention on a story for longer books, and I'm very pleased to say that "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore dispels that rubbish myth quite nicely.

A book that C has loved from an early age, a book her tiny cousins love, and a book that even now we pull off the shelf like an old friend, just to lose ourselves in its amazing classic-feeling storytelling world.

Inga is one heck of a talent, in fact she seems to have a knack for writing amazing books about cats (She also wrote and illustrated the utterly divine "Six Dinner Sid" - A book that doesn't feature in our #Booky100Keepers list only because we never got round to actually buying our own copy, borrowing it from the library many many times instead.

Anyway, we're here to talk about "Captain Cat" - the story of a benign and slightly eccentric sea captain who runs the trade routes in his amazing ship. The problem is the captain has the world's worst head for business - and he really, REALLY loves cats. So where other traders sell their spices and fine silks and foodstuffs for profit, the good captain usually ends up trading his cargo for moggies.

Soon he becomes old and tired, and realises that his days as a sea captain might be coming to an end. He takes one last trip with his kitties on board but instead of heading to the usual well known routes, he takes another - to wind up on the most fantastic and friendly island paradise.

Ruled over by a Princess, this island seems idyllic but as the captain sits down to dinner with his new found friends, a plague of filthy disgusting rats interrupts the meal. Can nothing be done about these pests? The captain has an idea or two...!

Soon his beloved moggies are put to good use, in fact they are so useful that they polish off the island's rat problem swiftly and surely. The young princess decides that she'd love to keep the captain's cats - and the captain realises that a life aboard ship can't possibly compare to living on a paradise island, and reluctantly bids his furry pals goodbye.

But that's not where the story ends. In fact this is why we love this book so much, it pulls you back in just as you think it's given all it has to give, and there's a fabulous little moral woven into the closing scenes as the good captain ends the story older, wiser and still surrounded by a zillion and one kittens.

As we said, it feels like a classic tale but also feels fresh, vibrant and original. Inga's illustrations are utterly glorious, her characters are vibrant, alive, and almost leap off the page at you, and who could possibly resist a book that is filled to the brim with hundreds of gorgeous moggies!

Original Review Link: 

Walker Books Summer Book Party - "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore. Purr-fect in every way!

Walker Picture Book Party - "We're going on a Cat hunt to celebrate Captain Cat by Inga Moore!"

Casting eyes back across the blog over the years, I'm always surprised by how 'soon' C developed a taste in darker picture books. I feel like I may have egged her on a bit, probably to the complete exasperation of my wife who always thought that darker books would give C nightmares.

Yet quite the opposite happened and I think even though there was a period of time when she wouldn't sleep and wouldn't settle (all parents must go through this, it's almost a rites of passage), it was never because of books - dark or otherwise.

Anthony Browne belongs in our #Booky100Keepers list for obvious reasons. His books are perfect, his books are extremely beautiful. His books are extremely clever and he's one of those creatives who seemingly gets away with turning the whole UK children's picture book 'rule model' on its head (thank goodness).

The first Anthony Browne book we borrowed from the Library (then later bought) was "The Tunnel" - oft billed as a surreal and dark depiction of the often stormy relationship between siblings, but to us a tale that instantly feels like it could've been swiped from the legendary luminaries of dark fairy tales, the likes of The Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson.

But Anthony might allude to classic tales like those, but works his own original stories up from a relatively simple idea (the thought of a brother and sister needling each other) and turns it into a dark fantastical journey through those bits of our imagination that prissy ne'er do wells would probably like us to keep under wraps.

Anthony Browne's illustrations are amazing pieces of art.

Each and every time we read one of his books, even the fantastic "Willy" series, we spot little details, in-jokes, pop culture references, hidden objects, mysterious shadows and shapes that aren't always apparent on a first read through, but are noticed later on (AB even makes a point of turning some of his books into a bit of a 'spot the object' game - a mechanism that elicits absolute delight in young readers as they pick their way through each story).

In later years we've gone back to these books as a means of noting all the places where AB pays due homage to classic artists, classic movies, or just cleverly works in brilliant nods to diversity and LGBT, ensuring his books are universally loved and revered by the widest possible audience.

Even when he's writing and illustrating an "Issues" book (such as the truly brilliant "What If"), he manages to do so without turning the theme into a boring 'grown-up' finger wagging lecture about how to cope with anxiety, worry or shyness.

Instead he sets out to create an entertaining story first before deftly weaving the story's moral into the mix.

We've read an awful lot of his books (not every single one but I'd dearly love to catch up with them all one day and even C still loves finding new ones from time to time, ones we haven't read before whenever we take a trip to the library or our local book stores) and he is, without doubt, one of the most important creative talents we've come across in the ten years of this blog.

You really just cannot go wrong with any of his books, they're all equally brilliant but we'll always have a soft (dark) spot for "The Tunnel" above all others.

Original Review Links (this is going to be quite a list!)

The Tunnel (original review)

Revisiting "The Tunnel" by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)

ReadItDaddy's Final Picture Book of the Week for 2019: "The Tunnel" by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)

What If...? By Anthony Browne (Doubleday Children's Books)

King Kong by Anthony Browne, Adapted from the story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper (Picture Corgi)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 2nd May 2014 - "Me and You" By Anthony Browne (Picture Corgi)

Booky Advent Calendar Day 13: "Willy and the Cloud" by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)

ReadItDaddy's First Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 13th October 2017 - "Hide and Seek" by Anthony Browne (Picture Corgi)

Into the Forest by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)

Knock Knock, Who's there? By Sally Grindley and Anthony Browne (Picture Puffin)

Through the Magic Mirror by Anthony Browne (Walker Books)

Willy the Dreamer

Ten things we'd like to see dads doing in "Dad Picture Books" for Father's Day - A ReadItTorial

Gorilla

Bear Hunt

Zoo

Willy and Hugh

Willy the Champ

Who is Kate Beaton? Well she's the genius behind a series of pant-wettingly funny (and er, really only for Grown Ups!) web comics where she pokes raucous fun at everything from history to romantic literature and popular culture.

So a shoe-in for someone who could produce the most brilliant, hilarious and pant-wettingly funny children's books? You betcha!

...and so she did, with two utterly brilliant entries in our #Booky100Keepers list.

Starting with "The Princess and the Pony" - Kate's take on what it's like being a little bit small, but with mighty ambitions! The Princess in this tale isn't some prim and proper little madam who is obsessed with dresses and going to the ball with a prince. She's a mighty kick-ass little warrior Princess who is a bit fed up with getting cuddly sweaters for her birthday. What she wants more than anything else is a mighty horse to charge into battle with.

Her parents relent - only the "mighty horse" is actually a small boss-eyed pony who has a rather farty bottom!

Nevertheless the Princess gets ready for the big bash, where all the local warriors meet in a mighty arena for a good old ding-dong. Will the Princess triumph? Or will she (and her dumpy little charge) get stomped into the dirt?

We love books that are funny. Not "oh ha ha how amusing" funny but "OH MY GOD I HURT MYSELF" funny, and this is just so brilliant - particularly if you're the sort of parents (like us) who cannot stand all those gooey-eyed princess books.

Kate's next children's book was equally brilliant, this time a sharp bit of observation about what it's like to be the centre of attention.

"King Baby" was written / produced before Kate became a mum herself, but it's spot on. "King Baby" is a benevolent ruler but without a shadow of a doubt, the real "boss" in the household.

Again it's just so funny, particularly Kate's gift of illustrating the most manic facial expressions for her characters - often accompanied by brilliantly placed sound effects (usually emanating from her character's bottom areas!)

King Baby has it all - but wait, what's this? WHO IS THIS USURPER WHO WANTS KING BABY'S CROWN?

Yep you can probably guess what happens when King Baby gets a sibling!

A perfect book for kids who are expecting a new bro or sis soon, but also tons of fun for parents who will absolutely recognise their own King or Queen babies in this book.

We really hope Kate makes a triumphant return to kidlit real soon, we miss her a lot and if she does we might even come out of retirement just to review her next masterpiece!

Original Review Links: 

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 21st August 2015 - "The Princess and the Pony" by Kate Beaton (Walker Books)

Booky Advent Calendar Book of the Week - Week Ending 16th December 2016 - "King Baby" by Kate Beaton (Walker Books)

David Roberts is a name that's going to come up quite a few times in our #Booky100Keepers list - here working alongside Paul Fleischman to provide two utterly fantastic and diverse books that don't bore the absolute pants off you by making diversity some sort of horrid mechanism to drive a point across.

Here's the thing with both "The Dunderheads" and "The Dunderheads Behind Bars" though - despite the kids all having groovy and cool super-talents, they also feel like kids that any young reader might know themselves.

In the first book this crazy gang get together to defeat their horrible teacher, the intimidating Miss Breakbone (who could probably arm-wrestle The Trunchbull into submission, she's that fearsome).

Junkyard's best find ever is confiscated, so alongside his pals Wheels, Pencil, Spider, Hollywood and the rest of the gang, it's time for sweet sweet revenge.

In "The Dunderheads Behind Bars" a sneaky thief is on the loose, just as the kids are breaking up for the summer holidays - and have a shot at fame as a big hollywood blockbuster is filming in town, and they need a bunch of cute kids as extras.

Hollywood herself is absolutely delighted, as her idol, Ashley Throbb-Hart is in the movie - and she just can't wait to nab an autograph. But guess who else got a part in the movie, and guess who else puts a gigantic jail-bar sized spoke in the wheel of The Dunderheads plans for the perfect summer?

Yep, Miss Breakbone, aided by her weird lookalike police officer brother! Someone's going to be wearing a natty orange suit (poor Spider!)

Once again it's up to the kids to solve the mystery of the missing loot, and spring Spider from jail!

These books are fab - most kids love books where they can identify with the kid characters themselves, and there's really something for everyone in these, doing a brilliant job of representing diversity - and not just that, representing really interesting kids with a whole range of quirks, foibles and strange habits - and for that they really do deserve to be keepers.

Original Review Links: 

The Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman and David Roberts (Walker Books)

The Dunderheads - Behind Bars by Paul Fleischman and David Roberts (Walker Books)

Day 4 of our #Booky100Keepers articles sees a pair of books that have achieved legendary status here at ReadItDaddy Towers. We picked these up in a '3 for two' deal (along with another keeper we'll talk about later on in this list) and C fell instantly in love with both of them.

Even to this day these still get read as a bedtime book and we still love the frenetic energy and fun characterisations in both.

Starting with "The Runaway Dinner" by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman, we begin with the tale of a seemingly ordinary little boy (amusingly) named Banjo Cannon. Banjo loves a sausage for his dinner but on one fateful day, the sausage decides he doesn't want to be scoffed, and does a runner - swiftly followed by the rest of Banjo's dinner, his cutlery, plate, chair and table!

A grand chase ensues as we begin to find out a little more about each character from the speedy soss to the cute peas (all of which have their own names, don't you know!)

It's a brilliant, brilliant romp and kids can't resist the fun details that segue in from Al and Bruce's other books. In fact if you look very carefully you'll spy a bit of intermixing between this and...

"The Pencil" which we also absolutely have to include in our list of keepers.

This time a pencil begins to draw a world, but soon the characters in that world demand changes! There's only one thing for it, the Pencil needs to draw something very special - a rubber!

BUT the rubber goes on the rampage, and gets far too carried away rubbing things out. The pencil is desperate to save the day, but what on earth can defeat a rubber?

We won't give away the ending! But in researching for this I realised we'd somehow missed "The Pencil" from our review schedule back when we were first starting out but it'd be an instant book of the week if we had, so go geddit buster!

These two books are treasures and we can't recommend them highly enough, both are absolute works of genius and Allan and Bruce are amongst our favourite PB creators of all time, their work is just so glorious.

Original Review Links:

The Runaway Dinner

The Pencil - N/A (why on EARTH didn't we review this one?!)

Zany, whacky, and slightly educational? What better way to describe a counting book that doesn't just follow the usual format - but includes a ton of humour and fun.

"You Can't Count on Dinosaurs" by Philip Ardagh and Elissa Elwick proves just how difficult it can be when you're counting a bunch of very busy prehistoric creatures.

They don't seem to want to sit still for more than 5 minutes, which means that counting them from one to ten is extremely tricky.

But we trust our young readership, and know that in the end they'll know just how many dinosaurs are on each page.

A naughty T-Rex, a slightly scaredy-cat Apatosaurus and the cutest triceratops you've ever met are all present and correct in this book (with fabulous endpapers to introduce these busy characters to you - oh and a rather lovely dedication to Judith Kerr which we really loved!)

Let's take a peek inside:

How rude!! Rex's table manners leave a lot to be desired!

Don't even think about it, Rex!!

It might feel like the worst time in the world to find a book like this in our review pile, but if there's anything we need right now, it's the thought of tackling the sublime list of things to try in this wonderful book.

"100 Adventures To Have Before You Grow Up" by Anna McNuff and Claire Rossiter is like a divine bucket list of all the things you could do as a curious, energetic and imaginative child.

(There's an awful lot of stuff in here to enjoy with mum and dad too!)

Though many of us are still in social distancing / isolation / lockdown mode, there's plenty in here to help you start building those wishlists of things you'll want to dive headlong into once things get back to a semblance of normal.

As outdoorsy types, we very much liked all the sections in the book that talk about things to do out in the fresh air, and thankfully at the time of writing this review, we've still been staving off our cabin fever at home and doing some of these at weekends.

Let's take a look inside at Anna and Clair's wonderful book:

Packrafting sounds too awesome for words!

One thing that's captured brilliantly in this book is how accessible and possible these adventures feel. You CAN do these things, in fact you can do most of these things fairly easily. 

Travel might feel like a distant wish but seeing the world is well worth it!

Clear the road! Get out of the way, the bunnies are coming and this time they're mobile!

In the rip-roaring and chaotic "Bunnies on the Bus" by Philip Ardagh and Ben Mantle, bunnies are on a jaunty ride aboard a fuzzy bus filled with cuteness.

These bunnies will stop at nothing to get where they're going, and the driver swerves his way through Sunnytown honking his horn. 

Ooh now this one's definitely caught our eye, and we've been marvelling at the gorgeous atmosphere of it since it first made its way through our letterbox.

"Dandelion's Dream" by Yoko Tanaka is a wordless picture book that begins with an implied question...

"What would you do if you only had one day to live?"

Pretty huge philosophical stuff, you'll agree but Yoko has blissfully tapped into a day in the life of a dandy lion - well a Dandelion, who is determined to make the very best use of 24 hours embarking on an adventure of imagination, discovery and sheer joyfulness at the beauty of the world.

The book is amazing to look at, picked out mostly in grey hues but with gorgeous contrasting splashes of yellow and other colours to help bring the pages to life and feed them with sunshiney energy.

Dandelion's day is quite something, and the most fun with this book is hearing children interpret each page spread in their own unique way, anticipating Lion's feelings and thoughts as the story unwinds, and of course using the power of the wordless format to build their own stories within the construct of this vibrant and amazing book world.

Let the train take the strain!

There were times when this reminded us both of Chris Van Allsburg's amazing books, making great use of tone and greyscale in the illustrations that almost feel like they can leap off the page into your life.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Quite something this, one of the most original picture books we've seen in a while, and a blissful dreamscape to spend a lot longer than a single day in, as kids are absolutely bound to demand this one again and again.

"Dandelion's Dream" by Yoko Tanaka is out today, published by Walker Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Wow, this one will definitely deliver a solid 'whump' to your heartstrings. It's never easy to deal with the subject of grief in picture books but in "Love from Alfie McPoonst, The Best Dog Ever" by Dawn McNiff and Patricia Metola, a gentle and sometimes humorous piece of storytelling delivers quite a lovely surprise by turning the subject on its head, offering perhaps a smidgeon of solace to little ones who may have suffered the loss of a beloved family pet.

Alfie is the narrator here, writing a letter from Doggy Heaven to his owner Izzy - who misses him like crazy, and is very sad.

"Dear Izzy, I’m a Sky Dog now. I live in Dog Heaven, because I died..."

In the realm of the Snow Leopard, in the cold crisp mountain air, this amazingly elusive predator reigns supreme.

Those of you who watched both of the BBC's "Planet Earth" documentaries will be familiar with the work of Justin Anderson and his amazing wildlife photography and filming, teaming up here with Patrick Benson for a dazzling and evocative look at the amazing Snow Leopard in "Snow Leopard, Grey Ghost of the Mountain".

Justin and Patrick have teamed up to 'storify' the amazing life and habitat of one of the world's most well known but often most misunderstood big cats.

In the harsh environment of the Himalayas, the snow leopard uses its excellent camouflage to stalk mountain goats and other creatures, picking its way carefully across rocky ravines and treacherous boulders, looking after its young and teaching them to tread in its velvety footsteps.

We loved the way this one instantly brought home the atmosphere and the amazing spectacle of these creatures in their native habitat in such a brilliant way. Not exactly a Christmas book but one that's perfect for this time of year as the first wisps of snow threaten to settle.

Our final Picture Book of the Year may not be something that was published this year (in fact it was published for the first time almost 30 years ago! Wow!), but it's a book that we were prompted to re-buy recently after being completely hypnotised by it in a bookshop.

"The Tunnel" by Anthony Browne is one of those 'dark' children's books you always hear about, you know, the ones the industry seems to have taken a pass on in recent years. Yet here is the perfect modern fairy tale, every bit as edgy and faintly menacing as classic tales from Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm - but with a contemporary look and feel which - even after 30 years - still feels timely and relevant.

Once upon a time a brother and sister lived a fairly happy and ordinary life. Like most siblings, they were prone to fighting and arguing with each other, with either one annoying or playing pranks on their sibling.

When their mother eventually tires of their bickering, she sends them out to play - and the mischievous brother finds a strange tunnel, and can't resist exploring it.

The sister is left all on her own, and when the brother doesn't reappear, she confronts her own fear head on, and crawls into the tunnel after him. What she finds on the other side is an unexpected, magical and thoroughly menacing new land that seems to have sprung to life from her own fairytale-obsessed imagination.

So many hidden images tucked into Anthony's amazing paintings. See what you can spot!

The story maintains an air of making the reader and the main character thoroughly uncomfortable, at times you're convinced you're being watched as well as the poor sister in the story. With good reason, as the illustrations feature all manner of mystical shapes, beastly and menacing, ready to eat you all up!

When the sister finally finds her missing brother there's a chilling shock in store - one we're desperate not to spoil for you, suffice to say beware when checking this book out on Amazon as one of the images has a whomping great big spoiler in it!

If you've never encountered any of Anthony Browne's books before, they're all fantastic - every single one of them, the man is incapable of writing / illustrating duff books, and this is probably our favourite of all of his brilliant 'hidden image' books (we're also huge fans of his brilliant Chimpanzee books featuring hapless hero Willy).

If you want to see what folk really mean when they talk about dark children's books, here's one of the finest examples, still as good on a re-read as it was when we first got it out of the Library many, many years ago. Thoroughly recommended!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A dark and delicious modern fairy tale wrought with Browne's expert eye for playing on your visual sense as you read through this superb story.

"The Tunnel" by Anthony Browne is out now, published by Walker Books (self purchased - not supplied for review). 

Walker Books once again build on their stunning reputation for producing gorgeous, artistic and fabulous picture books with this ode to childhood, seen through the eyes of an ordinary little girl who feels that her world is anything BUT ordinary.

Celebrate the simple enjoyable things in life with "What I Like Most" by Mary Murphy and Zhu Cheng-Liang.

The little girl in the story wants to share all her favourite things with us, from her light-up shoes, to hot, steamy chips, to her red pencil. 

Africa is a truly fascinating continent but what of the countries that make up this vibrant, cultural and ever-changing landscape?

In "Africa, Amazing Africa" by Atinuke and Mouni Feddag, you'll find a treasure trove of facts and information about this beautiful place.

All 55 countries on the African continent are described in loving detail, with all their natural history, their amazing resources and huge diversity. 

From the coolness of Burkina Faso to the tiny island of Cabo Verde

All 55 countries in the continent of Africa are lovingly described here

Helen Skelton is, without a doubt, one truly inspirational lady - and whether she's presenting on TV or trekking across the antarctic on a bike, she has all the grit and determination to make for an amazing role model.

In "Wild Girl: How To Have Incredible Outdoor Adventures" by Helen, with illustrations fron Liz Kay, she aims to inspire all of us (girls and boys) to take those first tentative steps out into the amazing world that could be on our doorstep, or perhaps travel further afield in search of true adventure.

Part biography and part fact-filled outdoorsy manual, Helen writes with authority on what it's like to plan, train and then embark on amazing journeys in harsh environments.

For example, how about a triple marathon across the Namibian Desert?

Or a Kayak safari down the Amazon?

Or riding a specially adapted snow bike where no one's ever ridden a bike before - the South Pole?

Helen has done all these things and many more, and it's excellent to see a ton of photos and information from those amazing trips and adventures chronicled here.

Biking and kite surfing in Antarctica? Why not!

Helen put her body to the test in the extreme cold and the blistering heat, and each of her diaries shows the kit and the mental and physical preparation she underwent before each journey.

Piranhas, a childhood fear in fish form! Yeek!

The planet is an incredible place - and though it's brilliant to see Helen's adventures laid out like this, we dread to think of the massive carbon footprint those trips must have cost.

I personally would dearly have liked to see it mentioned that children (boys or girls) C's age can have many, many amazing outdoor adventures without the need for extensive travel to the far flung corners of the world. Through Scouting or Guides, C has managed to do most of the more attainable challenges in this book in one form or another. Perhaps even doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award would be a perfect inroad into having some brilliant outdoor fun without breaking the bank (and let's face it, for a lot of the activities listed here, you're going to need to be minted or have some seriously generous benefactors (or, I dunno, become a TV presenter perhaps - which thankfully Helen does acknowledge at the back of the book, as well as making mention of the support teams and organisations that need to be in place for anything major like trekking across the Antarctic).

Some adventure activities you can do a bit closer to home!

Without being too much of a downer on the book, it is inspirational stuff though - and if it achieves one thing, and a few kids get out of their comfy chairs, put down their tablets and phones and get out into the great outdoors, then it'd be well worth the cover price - and if anyone can motivate you to try these things, it's definitely Helen!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A fab and inspirational book about Helen Skelton's many amazing adventures (with tons of other inspirational women included too) that might just spur you on to trying a few new things yourselves.

"Wild Girl - How To Have Incredible Outdoor Adventures" by Helen Skelton and Liz Kay is out now, published by Walker Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Our Second Book of the Week sees a fabulous illustrator taking his own storytelling journey in a tale that's got a lovely twist at the end.

"Small in the City" by Sydney Smith shifts away from his glorious collaboration with Joanne Schwartz ("Town is by the Sea", a previous Book of the Week winner) into the dense and noisy environs of a huge metropolis.

A small child makes their way through the hustle and bustle of the city, with a hidden narrator detailing the various landmarks and places that there are to discover there.

It sounds like a simple setup, but your brain works overtime on this book, simultaneously soaking up Sydney's utterly brilliant and atmospheric visualisation of a modern city - all skyscrapers, busy humans, traffic and noise - alongside those more ethereal moments, quiet corners where vents gout sweet smelling steam into the street, or a lone plastic bag billows in a twisted tree like a macabre totem to modern life.

The child's eye view of the city is mesmerising - but the neat twist the book pulls towards the end really draws you in, and practically begs you to go through the story again with your new-found knowledge.

Everything looks huge when you're a kid.

Sydney is an incredible artist, using a really gorgeous ink-line style with simple washes to sometimes convey the way cities look grey and washed out, but always pulling the eye back to tiny details in each page spread. We loved the way the actual text doesn't kick in straight away - there's no need for it, the visuals speak for themselves so when the narrative does begin, it does so with good reason.

Tiny pockets of nature manage to break through the urban landscape

To some extent, it feels like 2019 has saved all its best picture book work for the last quarter of the year - as ever! This is sublime, and it's obviously going to be a shoe-in for all sorts of awards. Again, a prime example of a children's picture book you can shove under the nose of anyone who doesn't believe PBs are for everyone, regardless of age - as this story really works on just about every level for kids and adults alike (in fact it's very reminiscent of a lot of high-end graphic novels in that respect).

Not to be missed!

Sum this book up in a sentence: Utterly and completely sublime storytelling from someone who doubles up as storyteller and visualist with ease and aplomb.

"Small in the City" by Sydney Smith is out now, published by Walker Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Now that the world (well, most of the world at least) seems to have woken up to the fact that single use plastic - and plastic in our oceans - is a hugely widespread threat to our planet, kids are on the front-line in the war against our wasteful ways.

"Kids Fight Plastic" by #2minutebeachclean campaigner Martin Dorey, with illustrations by Tim Wesson is a great little pocket-sized book to take with you - full of brilliantly simple things that kids (AND ADULTS, YES YOU TOO!) can do to be effective eco-warriors.

With a cover more sparkly than a pair of well-brushed gnashers, today sees the release of the truly brilliant "Tooth Fairy in Training" by Michelle Robinson and Briony May Smith, a creative dynamic duo par excellence.

If you think being a tooth fairy is easy, just a case of a quick 'bait and switch' coin-for-tooth under a kidlet's pillow, think again!

Tate is the titular tooth fairy in training, and her big sister May is taking her out for the first time on a mission that's going to be a tad more dangerous than both fairies expected.

Not all teeth are tucked under pillows in quaint comfortable urban surroundings, so Tate and May will trek across steamy jungles, deep-dive into the oceans or shiver their timbers in the icy frozen wastes of the arctic.

...and it's not just humans who expect a reward for their polished loose gnashers. Crocodiles and snakes? Oh my!

Exquisite rhyming, beautiful illustrations and a theme that will appeal to all kids, whether they have a sweet tooth or not! What a brilliant team Michelle and Briony make! (Look out for the line about Melissa - it's a corker!)